Playing-cards.



PATENTED APR. l1, 1905.

W. H. HIGGINS.

PLAYING CARDS.

APPLIOATION FILED DBO.21.1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED APR. ll, 1905.

W. H. HIGGINS.

PLAYING CARDS.

APPLIUATION FILED 930.21.1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 24 XVM. J

INVENTO/e;

W! TNASSES;

UNTTED STATES ll'lllljlAl ll. lll((j` INS. OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOR, ASSlGNallilNlS, TO CAMPAIGN() CARI) COMPANY,

Patented April 11, 1905.

PATENT UFFTCE.

BY MESNE OF AlLAN'lh,

PLAYING-CARDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 787,295, dated April 11, 1905.

Application file.. December 21,1903. Serial No. 186,030.

?) IIJ/fmt if 11M/.y mum/WIL:

Re it known that l. VILLTAAI H. l'lioGrNs, a citizen of the United States, residing' at Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and State of Georgia, have invented new and useful lmprovements in Playing-Cards, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to that class of playing-cards that are employed for the prime purpose of amusement and instruction and education in contrmlistinction to the common cards used in games of chance and rerpiiring' skill in successfully playing' or handling' of the same.,

lt is the object of the invention to provide a pack of cards that may be used with amusement and educational eti'ect in fancifully electing'a Presidentof the United States. As the President is elected by the greatest number of votes of the electoral college given to a candidate voted therefor and as the number of members of the electoral colleg'e is controlled by the number of Senators and Representatives from each State in the Congress of the United States, the point in the playing' of the game is to g'et control of the majority of the electors or a sutlicient number to elect, and when this object is accomplished the g'ame is con eluded whether all of the cards out or in hand are played or not.

'lhe invention consists in a pack or number of cards constructed as is hereinafter fully described and claimed, the drawings hereunto annexed forming' a part of this specilicatiou, in which e Figures l to l. inclusive, form the four representations of cards relating' to or making' up the State of (leorg'ia. Fig'. 5 is a view representing' one of the cards of the series relating' to New York. Figs. 6, T, S, and 9 represent. respectively, the cards indicating` New llampshi re. California, lowa, and South Carolina, printed on cardboard of 'different colors, as hereinafter specified.

Similar reference-ligurcs relate to ditl'erent parts or features.

l indicates a card complete. On each card is inscribed or printed the name of the State l thirteen electoral votes.

2 which it represents, and 23 the number of electoral votes that the said State has in the electoral college. There being' four cards to each State, each State will have the names of four cities or towns therein printed thereon; but as a matter of fact each card will represent but one city or town of the State, and such city or town will stand at the head of the list and be printed in more prominent type than the others, as indicated at t. ln other words, each State will comprise a suit of four cards, on which the name of the State as well as the city will indicate to what suit a card belongs, the names of the cities indicating' the number of cards in a particular suit that is out or has been played and the number of cards in a suit or the particular cards of a suit vet to be played or that has been played. The rules of a game that may be played with the cards, it has been found, may be varied, so as to render the playing' of the game quite intricate and scientific or very simple, as may be desired. ln any event the game is educational, among' other things. As a mere example, taking' the State of (-eorg'ia, in Fig'. l, Atlanta may represent the lirst card. Hence the name of that city will head the list and be printed in prominent type, while the names of the other three cities will appear, but be less prominent. ln Fig'. 2 Macon will be the representative card,and hence thatname will appear lirst or rank the others and be printed in more prominent type, while Atlanta` will take its place among' the cities printed in smaller or more obscure type., and so with the case of Savannah in Fig'. 3 and August-a in Fig'. l. rl.`he four cards will complete Georgia and give the player ln the case of the State of New York four cards, including', for instance, the cities of New York, Ak

` the player that State with electoral votes. ln other words, each of the fortv-h've States will be represented by four cards in the g'ame, i, making' a total of one hundred and eighty cards to each deck. The electoral vote will be printed on each card of the State to which i bany, Syl-acuse," and Buffalm willg'ive it belongs, as also a representative city, one of four.

The object of the game being to elect a President of the United States, each player chooses a candidate and the cards being shufiled they are dealt and the lirst player calls from the next in succession a card by the name of the city in prominent type, with a view of getting possession of all of the cities of that State that appear in prominent type and to thus secure the number of the electoral votes of the said State. As a player wins all the cards of a State he lays them aside and works to carry other States until he has won a majority of the votes of the electoral college, when he will have won the game whether all of the cards dealt may have been played or not, or it may be agreed at the start that each player shall name a candidate for president and then all of the cards shall be played, the one at the end of the game having the largest number of electoral votes being the winner.

The forty-tive States are divided into four groups, the groups being designated North, SoutlL Rasa and l/Vest. and each group is printed in a different color from the others, as indicated by Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9, wherein Fig. 6 is shown as a red card, indicating the East group; Fig. 7 as blue, indicating the Vest group; Fig. 8 as green, indicating the North group; and Fig. 9 as purple, indicating the South group.

The backs of the cards are of the design of ordinary playing-cards.

It will be understood, of course, that the names of the cities on the cards have no signilicance by way oi' indicating the value or weight of the card in the game. These names are designed to show or indicate the hand of which the card is asuit. The number of the electoral vote is the matter that indicates the value of the particularhand, and the total electoral vote of the sections LNorth, South, East and West determines the strength or count of each colored section of the deck. For example, a complete game may consist of the playing of a number ot' hands and carrying the country oftenest in a given number of years or of obtaining the greatest number of electoral votes in a given number of years. Hence the color indicates what might in the rules of the game be called grand hands and the value or count of the same. The rules may be such as to render the number ot' games that may be played by the deck as almost numberless, and the division into sections is one of the most important features of the deck with which the games are played.

I claim- A deck of cards, representing by suits of four each State in the Federal Union, each card bearing the name of a city to indicate the suit to which it belongs, each card of each suit bearing the number of electoral votes to which the State of the suit is entitled, to indicate the value of a card, and the entire deck being separated by color, into four divisions of No1-th, SoutlL East and West, with the number of electoral votes to which each section is entitled indicating the value ot' said section.

In testimony whereofl have signed my name to this specification in the presence ot' two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM H. HIGGINS.

Vitnesses:

J assu M. BUTT, MARION R. MILES. 

